A new feature is in the works for Cottage Grove Park in Delridge — a playground where the littlest of children can safely play. Organizers now have three options, and they’re hoping you will help them choose - just one of the ways you can help - read on to see the options and find out more:

First, Betsy Hoffmeister, who’s volunteering on the playground project, tells the story:The history of Greg Davis Park, Cottage Grove Park, and the Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail goes way back before my time.

I just moved to Delridge from the Morgan Junction three years ago, so wewere lucky to find all these parks going in as soon as we got here. Just twoyears ago, the Northeast corner of Brandon and 26th was an overgrown lot filledwith junked cars, old tires, broken bottles, and scrubby trees, including someancient apple trees. One thing I’ve learned is that Cottage Grove used to befilled with orchards. There are a few remnant trees left.

Although the lot was a habitat for many songbirds, it was not much of aspace for the community. Last year the lot was razed to the ground andtransformed into a rolling field, gentle pathways, a contemplation garden, andan exciting playground for children ages 5 and up. The park is beautifullylandscaped with many edible, native plants including blueberries, salal, andOregon grape. We keep waiting for bats to take up resident in the bat housewaiting for them.My children and I started biking and walking to the parkwhenever we had free time. My son, Isaac, who is seven, challenged me to climball over the equipment with him. My climbing skills pale in comparison with his.My three year old daughter, Rebecca, is swiftly bored. There is little for herto do. She can sort of swing in some low swingy-seat things, but she can’t reachthe equipment and what she can reach, she can’t safely climb on. She can’t runaround in the grass because careless neighbors let their dogs – all of whichseem to be the size of horses, judging by the piles they leave behind – runfree. So she gets bored and we have to leave the neighborhood and drive toanother playground where both of them can play.

Being an action-oriented kind of gal, and a member of the North DelridgeNeighborhood Council, I naively thought to myself, “Geez, let’s build aplayground for the little kids!” So, I started the process. Now we have a groupof wonderful neighbors working together to design a playground, work with theappropriate city bureaucrats, and raise money. We would like feedback from ourneighbors. We have three proposed designs. Without going into too much detail,here are three pictures of three different playground ideas and the flat feefrom the designers. Please write in and let us know your favorite design andwhy. We are still working on figuring out how to collect donations – we have afiscal sponsor and we are working out the final details on that! Thanks for yourfeedback.

You can click each image to open a larger version. First, this one is from Cascade Recreation, a $15,522 bid:Next, from Sitelines, a $13,871 bid:And from Architecreation, a $16,021 bid:Betsy adds: “We’ve already raised $182.81 at the West Seattle Garage Sale – Wahoo! Keep those donations flooding in!” You can e-mail her and playground organizers at: northdelridge@gmail.com.